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Kalahari Meerkat Project
The Kalahari Meerkat Project was started in 1993 when researcher Tim Clutton-Brock wanted to do a study on meerkats. He pick two places to study the meerkats. The first place was Gemsbok National Park and the other was a ranch which would later become the Kuruman River Reserve. Gemsbok National Park was was more flat ground, to the hills and dune at the ranch. Study at Gemsbok went well until a dought came and many of the groups were lost. Tim and his team finally left in 2001. Study at the ranch went much slower but so the studing of the meerkats get better. Research at the Ranch is still going on. Gemsbok National Park Tim pick the Gemsbok National park to one of the two places where he and his team would work with meerkats. Tim's team started working in 1993. The habituated with the group went well. Soon they located 11 different groups. Then a drought came in 1994 and went on through much of 1995. During the drought 7 group died out. Soon after the owners at the Gemsbok National Park told them to leave the Park. Tim and his team left the Park in 2001. During that time Tim's team habituated 16 different groups, Jackson,South and Sandile were some of the group. Kuruman River Reserve Tim pick a Ranch owned by Hennie Kotze. The Ranch would later become The Kuruman River Reserve. Work at the Kuruman River Reserve was much slower than at the Gemsbok National Park. There were more hills and dune then at Gemsbok. The meerkats would run away when Tim's team got within three hundred yards but soon they habituated some meerkat groups. In 1993 they found 4 groups Griffen,Drie Doring,Zion and Kakoo. Slower they found more groups and over the years the group they habituated gave way to other groups and now. The short lived Avatar group founded Lazuli and Young Ones. In 1998 the famous meerkat group the Whiskers were formed. In 2000 Hennie sold the land to Tim and Tim brought land to the north. The Kalahari meerkat project is currently working with 18 groups. Over the 16 years working at the Ranch, Tim and his team worked with some 58 meerkat groups. One of the group called the Whiskers became famous from a show called Meerkat Manor and with that the whole Kalahari Meerkat Project became famous. The land east of the Gannavlakte farmhouse seems to be a death zone for meerkat groups, as Balrog,Vivian and Gattaca moved there and the group was lost because of TB. The Commandos recently settle down there and are being attack by TB. Over the years the Kalahari Meerkat Project are work with many people, wrote many articles for newspapers and other things, let filmers came and film meerkats and study Meerkats for almost 16 years Gannavlakte Farm Gannavlakte was a farm North east of the Kuruman River Reserve in South Africa. The owners decided to sell the farm. Tim got enough money to buy the farm and he brought it in 2000. Most of the current group at the time didn't move there, then the newest Balrog moved east of the Gannavlakte farmhouse. Disease soon hit the Balrog group and then in 2007 Balrog were finally wipe out by disease. Then the Gattaca move into the land and they died of disease. Vivian a large sucessful group that lived west of Balrog and Gattaca began moving east. After Gattaca and Balrog were wiped out. The Vivian soon lost about 8 member a month to disease and finally died out. For almost a year no group moved east of Gannavlakte farmhouse until the Commanods in late 2008. The first death came when the dominant male and female and a male adult died. Now they are about 3 adult, they are being attack by disease. Geckos and Kung Fu are the next closes to the Gannavlakte. Kung Fu live west of the farmhouse and Geckos live about northwest of the farmhouse. Groups Lost at The Kuruman River Reserve *Asphodel *Avatar *Balrog *Centaur *Gattaca *Griffin *Harley *Hoax *Hobgoblin *Hobo *Incas *Isis *Jabberwocky *Jackals *Java *Kakoo *KK *Mixed Pickle *Nemesis *Nomads *Nutters *Nutty *Phantom *Pharside *PK *PQ *Polaris *Quantum *QQ *Riffraff *Sirius *Starsky *Taurus *Tottenham *Umbongo *Unicorn *Vivian *Young Ones *X-Iles *Xhosa *Zappa *Zion Current Groups at the Kuruman River Reserve *Aztecs, the Aztecs are a 15 member group and are currently lead by Monkulus the dominant female and Zaphod the ex dominant male of the Whiskers now dominant male. *Baobab, the Baboab are a 33 member group and are currently lead by Hawkeye the dominant female and Al Capone the dominant male. *Commandos, the Commandos are a 16 member group and are currently lead by Celidh the dominant female and Phanthro the dominant male. *Drie Doring, the Drie Doring are a 15 member group and are currently lead by Mist the dominant female and Thor the dominant male *Elveera, the Elveera are 20 member group and are currently lead by Jo Jo Hello the dominant female and Teabag the dominant male *Frisky, the Firsky are a 22 member group and are currently lead by Bottle the dominant female and Gazebo the dominant male. *Geckos, the Geckos are a 20 member group and are currently lead by Suzi the dominant female and VGCM002 the dominant male *Hoppla, the Hoppla are a 9 member group and are currently lead by a wild female and J. A. Prufrock the dominant male. *Jaxx, the Jaxx are a 17 member group and are currently lead by Diana the dominant female and Vince the dominant male. *Kung Fu, the kung Fu are a 17 member group and are currently lead by Kleintjie the dominant female and Ningaloo the dominant male *Lazuli, the Lazuli are a 24 member group currently lead by Young the dominant female and Wollow the dominant male. *Moomins, the Moomins are a 16 member group and are currently lead by Grumpy the dominant female and Leonardo the dominant male *Rascals, the Rascals are a 8 member group and are currently lead by Blondie the dominant female and a wild male *Sequoia, the Sequoia are a 8 member group and are currently lead by Benzedrine the dominant female and Bruce the dominant male *Toyota, the Toyota are a 10 member group currently lead by Miss Lily The Pink the dominant female and Greegan the dominant male *Van Helsing, the Van Helsing are a 17 member group and are currently lead by Flo the dominant female and Titan the dominant male *Whiskers, the Whiskers are a 18 member group and are currently lead Ella the dominant female and Thundercat the dominant male Meerkat Groups at the Kuruman River Reserve * In 1993 Tim's team located and track four wild groups of meerkats, the groups would soon be called Drie Dring,Kakoo,Griffen and Zion. Sadly Zion and Kakoo were lost. * In 1994 Tim's team located wild groups which would later become Avatar, and Phantom and members of the lost Zion group founded Quantum. Griffen were lost during the year. * In 1995 Tim's team located Vivian and Avatar members founded Young Ones and Lazuli. Avatar was lost during the year. * In 1996 Tim's team located wild group, Mix Pickle,Unicorn,Taurus and Nutty. Phamtons members founded Elveera. Quantum,Mix Pickle,Unicorn,Phamtoms,Taurus and Nutty were lost. * In 1997 Lazuli females started X-lies. * In 1998 Vivian females started Rascals and Youngs Females started Whiskers. * In 1999 Frisky,Jabberwocky,Nemesis, Sirius and Umbongo were founded. X-lies,Phantoms,Sirius and Jabberwocky were lost * In 2000 KK and QQ were founded. * In 2001 Gattaca,Hobgoblin,Moomins,Tottenham,Balrog and Zappa are founded. KK,QQ,Nemesis,and Umbongo are lost * In 2002 Asphodel,Pharside and Xhose were founded. Hobgoblin,Asphodel,Tottenham and Pharside were lost. * In 2003 Xhose were lost * In 2004 Commandos and Jackals were founded. * In 2005 Nomands were founded. Jackels were lost. * In 2006 Starsky and PQ were founded and Nomads were lost. * In 2007'''Tim's team located Nutters,Java and Polaris. Hoax,Baobab,Kung Fu and Geckos are founded. Java,Starsky,Gattaca,Barlog,Vivian and Hoax are lost. * In '''2008 PK,Toyota,Van Helsing,Jaxx and Hoppla were founded, Pk,Nutters and Zappa are lost. Meerkat Manor Meerkat Manor was film at the Kuruman River Reserve and focus on the Group called the Whiskers. When Meerkat Manor aired in the US and Eupore, the show became a hit and The Whisker became famous and soon the Kalahari Meerkat Project became famous too. In early 2004 Carolina Hawkins visited Tim Clutton-Brock to talk about a TV show with Tim's meerkats then in late June a film crew came to the Ranch and started filming the group called the Whiskers. In 2006 the show as shown on Animal planet and was a big hit. The show was called Meerkat Manor. The Film crew soon came back to the Ranch to film season 2. Meerkat Manor had 4 seasons, the film crew recently decided to take a break. Season 4 is currently showing in Uk and the film crew may come back to film season 5. Meerkat Manor also film a Movie about Flower called Meerkat Manor The Story Begins. Meerkats Groups At the start of the project and Tim and his team need to found wild meerkat groups and put a tracking collar on one of the animal in the group. Then found out where sleep during the night. Over the next few months the meerkats would begin letting Tim and the people who work on the project follow them. Then the meerkat would get a mark(s) and there body and a code name.(Flower code name was VWF026, the V stand for Van Zylsrus, the W stand for the group and the 026 stand for the number of pups born or wild meerkat who join the group,so Flower was the 26 pup born into the Whiskers). Drie Doring The Drie Doring Mob was one of the first meerkat group to be habituated. A couple of years after the Drie Doring were habituated Mabili took dominant female. She would be dominant for almost 10 years. The Drie Doring group is still a habituated and are lead by Dominant female Mist and dominant male Thor. Whiskers Whiskers were found by four Young Ones females,two Lazuli males and one wild male. Holly and Argon took dominance. The Whiskers grew but then dominant female Holly died. Her niece Risca and her daughter Vialli fought for dominant for almost a year. Vialli become dominant but soon died. Then famous meerkat Flower took dominant female. The Whiksers grew. Then in 2005 Meerkat Manor showed in the US and UK and the Whiskers became famous. After FLower died, her daughter Rocket Dog took dominant female for a year, but was run over by a car in April 2008 and Ella took dominant female and she was soon join by Thundercat and the two raise the Whiskers from 7 members to 18 members. Avatar Avatar was a short lived group but they blood still runs in many groups today. Avatar was located by Tim's team in 1994 and soon habituated. In 1995 the dominant pair disappeared. The males soon left. Leaving only four females. Morgause and Igrainea team up with Drie Doring males and started the Young Ones and Lazuli and Ziziphus team up with a wild male to form Lazuli. Ignaie one of the famous Avatar female would start a group called the Frisky and lost dominant female and then another group in whick she was left with two sub adults and four pups, after that the group was no longer followed. Category:Meerkat Manor